Plenary Speakers
Monday
Policy-Driven LCA in the Age of the Triple Planetary Crisis
Björn Spak
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
The extensive efforts made by academia and industry to develop, refine and standardise LCA methods have largely focused on voluntary implementation, while the integration of LCA in mandatory policy has only recently experienced a boom. As LCA is integrated into Swedish national and European legislation there is a new sense of urgency and a need to shift focus in method development. The scientific community needs to reassess how to best come to terms with different methodological perspectives to be able to influence policy under development while decision-makers need to reassess how to best support and utilize the scientific community.
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Björn Spak is an advisor at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency with responsibilities in life cycle-related issues, in particular the EU Environmental Footprint and the development of associated legislation such as the Battery regulation and the Ecodesign regulation. He serves as the Swedish national representative in the EU Commission expert group (TAB) for the Environmental Footprint. Spak holds an MSc in biopharmaceutical science and prior to joining the EPA, he gained extensive experience as an LCA practitioner in industrial and research environments, conducting LCAs for product development and communication purposes.
Tuesday
Latest Developments in the Product Environmental Footprint and Green Claims
Mauro Cordella
European Commission
To tackle the triple planetary crisis the European Green Deal reiterated the need for more sustainable production and consumption patterns where understanding the environmental impacts of products and organisations over the life-cycle is paramount. This keynote will focus on Environmental Footprint (EF) methods, which have become key tools within the EU sustainability policy landscape and are increasingly applied in mandatory policies tackling sustainability of materials and products, but also improving consumer information. A key Directorate-General for Environment objective is to ensure that EF methods respond to these emerging policy needs and are fit to effectively support businesses in their sustainability transition.
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Dr Mauro Cordella works as a policy officer on Environmental Footprint methods and Green Claims at the Circular Economy and Sustainable Production unit of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment. In 2010, Mauro achieved a doctoral degree in chemical, environmental and safety engineering from the University of Bologna, doing research on the sustainability assessment of bio-energy systems. During his 18+ years of professional work at the European Commission, in academia and the private sector, he has gained extensive experience in LCA (e.g. for foods, biofuels, ICT products, textiles, buildings), chemical risk assessment, ecodesign, labelling and sustainable production and consumption, circular and bio-economy, and related EU policies.
The Power of Life Cycle Perspective to Drive Sustainability Targets and Innovations
Susan Iliefski-Janols
Essity
Society and businesses require the delivery of good products and services from responsible value chains. This means value chains that drive climate and circularity improvements and contribute to healthy ecosystems. Developing them means that you need social and environmental measurement techniques such as LCA to support and track sustainability targets and innovations and to drive improvements from a company level all the way out to customers and consumers. To make it meaningful, it is essential that you adapt your life cycle perspective to many different stakeholders. Iliefski-Janols will present a perspective on how to do this based on various practical examples.
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Susan Iliefski-Janols, Vice President for Sustainability Products & Services, is responsible for sustainability for brands, products, services and innovations globally for Essity Hygiene and Health categories. She has a Master of Science in Mechanical engineering together with experience from the chemical, mechanical, forest, packaging, hygiene and health industries, providing a good background to understand the full value chain for products and services. Her sustainability work is focused on improving human well-being with improved climate and circularity performance to also contribute to healthy ecosystems.
Her leadership has been in research, innovations and sustainability within SCA and Essity. External engagement is a driving force for her and some examples of this include her representation of Essity in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, contributing to its New Plastics Economy Initiative and other circular economy initiatives. She is also active in the nonwoven trade association Edana to support sustainability and a circular economy, and is the Chair the national competence center Swedish Life Cycle Center where the life cycle perspective is essential.